When Southwest Airlines landed at Pittsburgh International Airport for the first time in 2005, it debuted with 10 flights. The airline quickly discovered that the landside terminal lacked enough garage parking, enough space for the needed ticket counters and a sufficient number of security checkpoints.

“The airport at that point was transitioning from a connecting airport to an [origin and destination] airport, so the airport has done an amazing job over the years trying to adjust to that,” says Mike Gillock, airport affairs regional manager for Southwest — now the airport’s largest carrier, offering between 28 and 38 flights a day.

“But this [new terminal] is really the big answer for all of our concerns as far as rightsizing the airport, which will benefit our customers,” he says. “The

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